Internet: to keep cache or delete cache?

Hulu, was having some crazy issue, and asked me to delete my cache of their site, and it got me to wondering: what is best: to always have the browser delete your cache, or is it good to keep cache, as I've been doing to speed things up? Thanks. I use Firefox, but the question applies to Safari etc.

Staff Member

I hate clearing my browser cache, for one simple reason. Its a pain to re-authenticate some sites. For instance, If I want to log into Chase to pay my credit card, I now need to have them email or call me with a code. One site, is fine, but that sort of behavior is fairly common for all financial sites and so I'd rather not go through the level of frustration.

Thank Simon and May. I have a log in add on that is important. Would clearing cache remove those log in user names/ passwords? When a site remembers your log in, that is cache? And cookies don't help us at all correct? Those just for the websites to track..?

Staff Member

Thank Simon and May. I have a log in add on that is important. Would clearing cache remove those log in user names/ passwords? When a site remembers your log in, that is cache? And cookies don't help us at all correct? Those just for the websites to track..?

Click to expand...

There are three things in play here, and typically only two of them have anything to do with remembering site login information.

You have "local storage" information in the folder below. That can contain local storage information for web sites that remembers you have been there before like maflynn described. Typically you do not want to delete local storage files for sites you frequent.

Code:

~/Library/Safari/LocalStorage

Then you have cookies stored in the binary file Cookies.binarycookies in the folder below. These cookies can also store login information, so you would normally want to leave them there for sites you frequent. Do not try to mess with this file as you will corrupt it. You need to manage cookies in Safari or through a third party app.

Code:

~/LibraryCookies

Then you have Safari cache data in the folder below. That is just images cached from websites to make subsequent visits to the site faster. You can delete this if you want, since it does not store any login information.

Code:

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari

I use a third party app called Cookie to manage all this. You can whitelist local storage and cookies for sites you frequent and have the app delete the rest. It can also manage the cache files for you if you like.

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